Assay for okadaic acid O-acyl transferase using HPLC-FLD.

Dinophysistoxin 1 (DTX1, 1) and okadaic acid (OA, 2), produced by the dinoflagellates Dinophysis spp. and Prorocentrum spp., are primary diarrhetic shellfish toxins (DSTs), which may cause gastric illness in people consuming such as bivalves. Both compounds convert to dinophysistoxin 3 (DTX3, 3; generic name for 1 and 2 with fatty acids conjugated at 7-OH) in bivalves. The enzyme okadaic acid O-acyl transferase (OOAT) is a membrane protein found in the microsomes of the digestive glands of bivalves. In this study, we established an in vitro enzymatic conversion reaction using 4-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD)-OA (4), an OA derivative conjugated with (R)-(-)-4-nitro-7-(3-aminopyrrolidin-1-yl)-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole (NBD-APy) on 1-CO2H, as a substrate. We detected the enzymatically produced 3, NBD-7-O-palmitoyl-OA (NBD-Pal-OA), using high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection. We believe that an OOAT assay using 4 will facilitate the fractionation and isolation of OOAT in the future.

Genetic control of CCL24, POR, and IL23R contributes to the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis.

Sarcoidosis is a genetically complex systemic inflammatory disease that affects multiple organs. We present a GWAS of a Japanese cohort (700 sarcoidosis cases and 886 controls) with replication in independent samples from Japan (931 cases and 1,042 controls) and the Czech Republic (265 cases and 264 controls). We identified three loci outside the HLA complex, CCL24, STYXL1-SRRM3, and C1orf141-IL23R, which showed genome-wide significant associations (P < 5.0 × 10-8) with sarcoidosis; CCL24 and STYXL1-SRRM3 were novel. The disease-risk alleles in CCL24 and IL23R were associated with reduced CCL24 and IL23R expression, respectively. The disease-risk allele in STYXL1-SRRM3 was associated with elevated POR expression. These results suggest that genetic control of CCL24, POR, and IL23R expression contribute to the pathogenesis of sarcoidosis. We speculate that the CCL24 risk allele might be involved in a polarized Th1 response in sarcoidosis, and that POR and IL23R risk alleles may lead to diminished host defense against sarcoidosis pathogens.

Effect of watching professional baseball at a stadium on health-related outcomes among Japanese older adults: A randomized controlled trial.

AIM: Watching sports at stadiums can have a favorable impact on health-related outcomes in older adults. We examined the effect of watching professional baseball at a ballpark on older adults' health-related outcomes. METHODS: A total fo 58 participants aged 65-85 years were randomized into a spectator group (n = 29) and waiting-list group (n = 29). During the 2-month intervention, there were 21 games. The spectator group watched games at the ballpark, and the waiting-list group maintained their daily routines. The health-related outcomes were executive and cognitive functions, health-related quality of life, depression symptoms, subjective happiness and physical activity. RESULTS: The median days watching baseball games in the spectator group was 6 days (interquartile range 4-10 days). Executive function using the reverse Stroop interference rate showed a non-significant trend of improvement in the spectator group compared with the waiting-list group (P = 0.063). The spectator group showed a significant reduction in depressive symptoms compared with the waiting-list group (P = 0.016). CONCLUSIONS: Regularly watching professional baseball at a ballpark reduced older adults' depression symptoms. Geriatr Gerontol Int 2019; 19: 717-722.

Chum salmon egg extracts induce upregulation of collagen type I and exert antioxidative effects on human dermal fibroblast cultures.

Components of fish roe possess antioxidant and antiaging activities, making them potentially very beneficial natural resources. Here, we investigated chum salmon eggs (CSEs) as a source of active ingredients, including vitamins, unsaturated fatty acids, and proteins. We incubated human dermal fibroblast cultures for 48 hours with high and low concentrations of CSE extracts and analyzed changes in gene expression. Cells treated with CSE extract showed concentration-dependent upregulation of collagen type I genes and of multiple antioxidative genes, including OXR1, TXNRD1, and PRDX family genes. We further conducted in silico phylogenetic footprinting analysis of promoter regions. These results suggested that transcription factors such as acute myeloid leukemia-1a and cyclic adenosine monophosphate response element-binding protein may be involved in the observed upregulation of antioxidative genes. Our results support the idea that CSEs are strong candidate sources of antioxidant materials and cosmeceutically effective ingredients.

Association study of IGF1 polymorphisms with susceptibility to high myopia in a Japanese population.

PURPOSE: Polymorphisms in the insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF1) gene were previously associated with high or extreme myopia in Caucasian and Chinese populations. In the present study, we investigated whether IGF1 polymorphisms are associated with high myopia in a Japanese population. METHODS: A total of 446 Japanese patients with high myopia (≤-9.00 diopters) and 481 Japanese healthy controls (+1.50 diopters to -1.50 diopters) were recruited. We genotyped seven tagging single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in IGF1 and assessed allelic and haplotypic diversity in cases and controls. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences in the allele frequencies of IGF1 SNPs and genotypes between cases and controls (P>0.05). However, the A allele of rs5742629 and the G allele of rs12423791 were associated with a moderately increased risk of high myopia (odds ratio [OR] =1.20 and OR =1.21, respectively) with borderline statistical significance (P=0.0502, corrected P (Pc) =0.21 and P=0.064, Pc=0.29, respectively). The haplotype consisting of the A allele of rs5742629 and the G allele of rs12423791 was marginally associated with the risk of high myopia (P=0.041; OR =1.21); this association was not significant after correction (Pc=0.19). CONCLUSION: We found that the IGF1 SNPs are not significantly associated with high myopia in our Japanese population. Our results are in contrast to a previous study in which extreme myopia cases had significantly higher frequencies of the G allele of rs5742629 and the C allele of rs12423791 than controls. Therefore, the IGF1 SNPs may not be important factors for susceptibility to high myopia in all populations. Further genetic studies are needed to elucidate the possible contributions of the IGF1 region to the development of high myopia.

Dogs and humans share a common susceptibility gene SRBD1 for glaucoma risk.

Glaucoma is a degenerative optic neuropathy that is associated with elevated intraocular pressure. Primary open angle glaucoma is the most common type of glaucoma in canines, and its highest incidence among dog breeds has been reported in Shiba-Inus, followed by Shih-Tzus. These breeds are known to have an abnormal iridocorneal angle and dysplastic prectinate ligament. However, the hereditary and genetic backgrounds of these dogs have not yet been clarified. In this study, we investigated the association between polymorphisms of the glaucoma candidate genes, SRBD1, ELOVL5, and ADAMTS10, and glaucoma in Shiba-Inus and Shih-Tzus. We analyzed 11 polymorphisms in these three genes using direct DNA sequencing. Three SRBD1 SNPs, rs8655283, rs22018514 and rs22018513 were significantly associated with glaucoma in Shiba-Inus, while rs22018513, a synonymous SNP in exon 4, showed the strongest association (P = 0.00039, OR = 3.03). Conditional analysis revealed that rs22018513 could account for most of the association of these SNPs with glaucoma in Shiba-Inus. In Shih-Tzus, only rs9172407 in the SRBD1 intron 1 was significantly associated with glaucoma (P = 0.0014, OR = 5.25). There were no significant associations between the ELOVL5 or ADAMTS10 polymorphisms and glaucoma in Shiba-Inus and Shih-Tzus. The results showed that SRBD1 polymorphisms play an important role in glaucoma pathology in both Shiba-Inus and Shih-Tzus. SRBD1 polymorphisms have also been associated with normal- and high-tension glaucomas in humans. Therefore, SRBD1 may be a common susceptibility gene for glaucoma in humans and dogs. We anticipate that the nucleotide sequencing data from this study can be used in genetic testing to determine for the first time, the genetic status and susceptibility of glaucoma in dogs, with high precision. Moreover, canine glaucoma resulting from SRBD1 polymorphisms could be a useful animal model to study human glaucoma.

PP2A inhibition assay using recombinant enzyme for rapid detection of okadaic acid and its analogs in shellfish.

Okadaic acid and its analogs (OAs) responsible for diarrhetic shellfish poisoning (DSP) strongly inhibit protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A) and thus are quantifiable by measuring the extent of the enzyme inhibition. In this study, we evaluated the suitability of the catalytic subunit of recombinant human PP2A (rhPP2Ac) for use in a microplate OA assay. OA, dinophysistoxin-1(DTX1), and hydrolyzate of 7-O-palmitoyl-OA strongly inhibited rhPP2Ac activity with IC(50) values of 0.095, 0.104, and 0.135 nM, respectively. The limits of detection and quantitation for OA in the digestive gland of scallops and mussels were 0.0348 µg/g and 0.0611 µg/g respectively, and, when converted to the whole meat basis, are well below the regulation level proposed by EU (0.16 µg/g whole meat). A good correlation with LC-MS data was demonstrated, the correlation coefficient being 0.996 with the regression slope of 1.097.

Efficient in vitro lowering of carbonyl stress by the glyoxalase system in conventional glucose peritoneal dialysis fluid.

BACKGROUND: Reactive carbonyl compounds (RCOs) present in heat-sterilized peritoneal dialysis (PD) fluid have been incriminated in the progressive deterioration of the peritoneal membrane observed in long-term PD patients. The present study utilized the glyoxalase I (GLO I) system as a new approach to lower in vitro the peritoneal fluid content of RCOs such as methylglyoxal (MGO), glyoxal (GO) and 3-deoxyglucosone (3-DG). METHODS: GO, MGO, and 3-DG solutions or conventional glucose PD fluids were incubated in vitro with various RCO lowering compounds. The evolution of GO, MGO, and 3-DG levels was monitored by high-performance liquid chromatography. The tested compounds included aminoguanidine and glutathione (GSH), alone or together with GLO I. The human GLO I gene was overexpressed in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells, or ubiquitously in transgenic mice. Cell supernatant of the CHO transfectant and protein extracts of various organs of the transgenic mice were also tested. RESULTS: Aminoguanidine incubated with MGO/GO/3-DG mixtures, promptly reduced RCO levels. GSH alone had a similar but milder and slower effect. Together with GLO I, it promptly decreased GO and MGO levels but was less efficient toward 3-DG. After incubation with glucose PD fluid, GSH together with GLO I had the same effect on MGO, GO, and 3-DG levels. Addition of transfected cell supernatant or tissue extracts overexpressing GLO I, together with GSH to either GO, MGO, or 3-DG solutions, promptly and markedly reduced GO and MGO but not 3-DG levels. CONCLUSIONS: GLO I together with GSH efficiently lowers glucose-derived RCOs, especially GO and MGO, both in conventional glucose PD fluids and in RCO solutions. The fact that genetically manipulated cells overexpressing GLO I activity have a similar effect suggests that maneuvers raising GLO I activity in peritoneal cells or in the peritoneal cavity might help prevent the deleterious effects of the peritoneal carbonyl stress in PD patients. The clinical relevance of this approach is yet to be documented.

Insertion of a strongly pi-pi stacked chloranilate pair into an M4 arrangement preorganized within a large macrocyclic ligand (M = Zn2+ and Cu2+).

Four Zn(II) ions arranged within a pyridine-modified large phenolate-containing macrocyle Lpy2- encapsulate two chloranilate ions in a double bis-didentate bridging fashion; the ligands are strongly pi-pi stacked with each other with a short distance of 3.27 A and are electrochemically reduced at the same potential of -1.00 V to produce a reasonably stable biradical species with T1/2 = 60 min at 25 degrees C.